Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen left the company in 1983 after being diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease. He has recently made comments about Windows 8 and believes that people will eventually learn to like the OS. However, he recently stated that Windows 8 was "puzzling" and "confusing initially." Allen made comments on a post this week made on his personal blog.

Allen says that he has been running Windows 8 Release Preview, which shipped back in May, on his desktop and on a Samsung 700T. That is the tablet that Microsoft is been handing out to developers, analysts, and some members of the press to get them to try out Windows 8.

"The bimodal user experience can introduce confusion, especially when two versions of the same application -- such as Internet Explorer -- can be opened and run simultaneously," Allen said.

The two user interfaces that Allen is talking about are the Windows 8 style, previously called Metro, offering a minimalist look and the classic view that looks like a slightly modified Windows 7 desktop. Allen also criticized some of the changes to the operating system that have been voiced by other users as well.

"Strangely, there is no way to set the desktop as your default view (there should be)," Allen wrote. "This is one of the single biggest changes in Windows 8: the lack of the familiar Start menu."

"I found myself wishing that a Power tile was available on the Start screen to make these commands more accessible," Allen continued.

Ultimately, Allen says that even with the quirks of the new operating system that Windows 8 would be manageable by users. He also believes that Microsoft will address any issues with its next release. Some of the issues Allen mentions are reasons beleived to be contributing to the slow adoption of early versions of Windows 8.

Clearly Mint is more intelligent than all of the rest of us. Until I read his belittling comments I did not fully comprehend the superiority of a low information density menu made up of highly contrasting bright colors!

Not only can you save time and open programs faster by moving your mouse 6x further than was previously necessary you also get the added benefit of flashy notifications that are hidden most of the time with the menu you will more than likely try and find ways of avoiding! This is just fantastic!

I've even heard from others that the GUI in Windows 8 is so awesome that all you need to do is memorize 57 keyboard shortcut commands and you wont have to spend any time at all hunting for hidden buttons or features! That is so much easier than those useless buttons and cascading menus where you can just see all the places to click with a label telling you what clicking there will do... thank god all that is gone! I can't wait until someone calls me having a computer problem and I get to explain how to navigate to hidden options over the phone, think of how much time this will save all the countless helpdesks out there?!

I just can't see why anyone would resist switching over?! There are absolutely no drawbacks at all!

Oh, density is what matters now? So instead of 50 results, it's better to have 15, because they're packed into a tiny space. You know what, let's shrink the Win7 menu further, reducing the font size to 4 pt because density is what matters instead of total information.

quote: Not only can you save time and open programs faster by moving your mouse 6x further than was previously necessary

Mouse movement? Oh man, what a hardship. Damn all those large high-res display makers for making all your programs require large movements. The industry should be moving to 8" 640x480 screens to reduce mouse movement.

Yeah, you're totally right. MS should have gone into the opposite direction, presenting less info in a tighter space and making their next OS even more of a clickfest than Win7.

quote: I've even heard from others that the GUI in Windows 8 is so awesome that all you need to do is memorize 57 keyboard shortcut commands

If you hate the modern UI and want to use the start page almost exclusively as a desktop app launcher, then what keyboard memorization do you need? What on earth are you bitching about?